A Soft Spark Under That Stern Demeanor
by GoldGuardian2418
Summary: Ultra Magnus shows Eclipse that while he may be stern, he does have a soft spark, but will she let him prove that to her? Done as a request for EmeraldMoonGreen. :)
1. Chapter 1

**EmeraldMoonGreen, who owns Eclipse, asked for this one. Here you go, Amiga! Enjoy! :)**

 **Transformers Prime belongs to Hasbro. I own nothing.**

* * *

 **A Soft Spark Under That Stern Demeanor**

Eclipse pouted when she saw Ultra Magnus working on a data pad in his office. Everyone else was relaxing, but the Wrecker Commander wasn't taking time to relax. "He really needs to take a break," the small femme said to herself. She knew he was stern and strict, but even the best leaders needed to lighten up sometimes and have some fun.

Getting an idea, the femme quickly reverted to her Night Fury form and crouched low on the ground, sneaking into Ultra Magnus' office very quietly and making no sound. Wheeljack had taught her some stealth moves a few days ago and she used them to move undetected.

Ultra Magnus was focused solely on the datapad he was typing on that he didn't even detect the femme beside him until a black blur snatched the datapad away from him. Jumping up, the leader of the Wreckers pulled out his gun, but stopped short at seeing it was only Eclipse and she held the datapad in her jaws. Sighing, he put away his weapon. "Eclipse, bring that datapad back here," he said in a firm, but even voice.

She giggled. "Come and get it!" She said teasingly as she ran out. Ultra Magnus quickly followed her, calling out to her to give back the datapad.

The others were all relaxing when they saw Eclipse run in with a datapad in her mouth and she immediately flapped her wings, taking to the air and giggling. "What are you up to, Eclipse?" Starscream asked, an amused smile on his face.

"Trying to get Ultra Magnus to relax," she said, but the words came out muffled due to her trying to talk around the datapad.

Smokescreen chuckled. "So, you took the datapad he was working on?" He asked and she nodded. "How did you get it from him?"

"Snuck up on him," she said, her words again muffled as she pointed to Wheeljack. "Stealth."

Wheeljack's optics widened before he laughed heartily. "You must have been practicing those stealth maneuvers all day yesterday to be able to sneak up on Ultra Magnus without him detecting you," he said.

"She nearly got away with hiding some of my wrenches before I caught her," Ratchet said, giving Wheeljack a look, but his smile proved that he was proud his daughter had some stealth maneuvers down.

Ultra Magnus appeared and his gaze fell on Eclipse, who squeaked and flew upwards a bit more before flying over his head to escape. He quickly took after her, making the others in the room chuckle in amusement.

* * *

Optimus and Prowl were in the Autobot leader's office when Megatron came in with his report. "Things are quiet," he reported.

"Good, and our Energon stores are fully stocked," said Prowl, looking happy.

"Good," said Optimus.

"Come on, Ultra Magnus. Gotta catch me!"

Hearing Eclipse's voice, the three looked at the open door to see the small femme flying by with a datapad in her mouth and Ultra Magnus was trying to catch up to her. Prowl blinked before he chuckled and Megatron and Optimus chuckled. "Looks like she's trying to make him relax," said the former leader of the Decepticons.

"By making him not work on the datapad she has in her mouth," Optimus said, smiling.

"It's good to have a sparkling on base," said Prowl. "Even though she does tend to be mischievous sometimes."

"Oh, you know she just wants to play and she does get us to not work all the time," Megatron said.

Eclipse now ran past again and they decided to see how the chase was going and so went to the main room where everyone else was as they saw the femme come running in, still holding the datapad and Ultra Magnus was gaining on her. Letting out a squeak, she went to run, but then slipped, losing her grip on the datapad and accidently swallowing it. "Oops," she said sheepishly.

"You okay, Eclipse?" Arcee asked.

Before anyone could say anything, Ultra Magnus stormed in and he looked mad. "This is why you shouldn't be messing around with datapads, Eclipse," he said in a scolding voice.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, but the mech had already lost his temper.

"You should also stay out of an office unless given permission to enter," he said, still scolding her.

"Magnus, calm down," Optimus said.

"She was just playing," said Starscream while running a quick scan to see that the datapad was in Eclipse's stomach and had thankfully not gotten lodged in her throat.

"That gives her no excuse," the leader of the Wreckers said firmly.

All the time he was scolding her, he didn't notice the change that came over Eclipse. She hunkered down, looking like she had been kicked and let out a small, pitiful whimper.

Everyone stopped talking when they heard that whimper and turned to look at Eclipse, shock filling them at what they saw. The young femme was curled up on the floor, cowering as her claws tore into the floor, like she was trying to keep herself anchored or to possibly dig a way to escape. Her armor was turning white, which was another shock. "Please, don't hurt me. I'll be a good girl," they heard her mumble pleadingly.

Ratchet immediately went over to his daughter and stroked her back. "Shh, it's alright, sweetspark. Daddy's here," he cooed to her.

Hearing him, she practically jumped up into his arms, shaking a little and tears were in her eyes. He took her to the medbay and as she lay on the berth, she suddenly heaved and spat out the now-ruined datapad. "Yuck," she said, making a face.

Ratchet chuckled. "Well, even I could have told you those wouldn't make a good snack," he said teasingly.

But instead of giggling, he heard Eclipse start whimpering and she began crying and he saw why. Ultra Magnus had stopped by, but now looked uncertain as the young femme cried. Silently, Ultra Magnus left the medbay and Eclipse managed to calm down.

Anytime he walked by the lab for the rest of the day, Eclipse would burst into tears, which made Ultra Magnus begin to feel guilty as he realized he had no doubt caused the small femme to go into another flashback and he reached his office, sighing.

"What have I done?" He asked himself, though he knew what had happened.

He had to make it up to Eclipse somehow, but how could he when she burst into tears every time she saw him?

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 **Will Ultra Magnus make it up to Eclipse? Read on! :)**

 **GoldGuardian2418**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

For the rest of the day, it was difficult for Ultra Magnus to work as all he could think about was how scared Eclipse was of him now. And it didn't help that everyone was disappointed in him too. "You really need to loosen up, sir," said Bulkhead in a respectful voice. "Eclipse was just playing."

"She always shuts down if any of us raise our voices like that," said Arcee, looking at Magnus with a stern look, something very few bots could do and actually get away with it.

Even Ratchet growled at him when he walked by the medbay, but was hurt the leader of the Wreckers the most was that Eclipse would go into a panic attack and cry whenever she saw him. He finally set aside the datapad he had been trying to work on, giving up. He wouldn't be able to focus on his work as long as Eclipse was frightened of him.

Bumblebee walked by and saw Ultra Magnus looking like he had been through the wringer and cautiously approached. "Sir? Are you…well?" He asked.

The leader of the Wreckers sighed deeply. "Not exactly," he said before looking at the young scout. "How is Eclipse?"

"She's calmed down and sleeping," Bumblebee answered. "Ratchet had a time getting her to settle down and go to sleep."

"Because of me," Ultra Magnus said with a sigh. "I really feel lower than scum for making her cry. I keep forgetting that sometimes scolding her makes her go into flashbacks and she becomes so afraid."

The yellow scout looked saddened. "All because of that creep who hurt her," he said and suddenly he perked up. "Wait. Maybe you can still help her, Ultra Magnus, sir. You can remind Eclipse that you promised to never hurt her."

The larger bot looked at Bumblebee, intrigued. "How?" He asked, deciding to hear the young bot's idea.

"Well, you know how she has nightmares sometimes, right?" Bumblebee said.

"Yes?" Ultra Magnus asked curiously.

"Maybe…if Eclipse has a nightmare tonight, which I hope she doesn't, but if she does, maybe you can comfort her?"

He had to admit that actually sounded like a good idea and certainly was better than having Ratchet growl at him or Eclipse go into a panic attack and cry when she saw him. He could offer her comfort and remind her that while he was stern, he'd never hurt her. "Tell Ratchet your idea to see if he's alright with it and let me know what his answer is, please," he said to the scout.

"Yes, sir," Bumblebee said and instantly headed out to talk to Ratchet.

When the medic heard the scout's idea, he gave it some thought and after a bit, agreed that it wouldn't hurt to try, especially where Magnus was wanting to make it up to Eclipse. "But, if she doesn't calm down, notify me immediately," Ratchet said to the leader of the Wreckers.

"Will do," he said. "And Ratchet…thank you."

The medic gave him a look. "You're welcome, but you've got a battle ahead of you," he said.

Ultra Magnus nodded solemnly.

* * *

It was late into the night and the leader of the Wreckers was still up, unable to sleep but also keeping his audios open in case he heard Eclipse start crying. He set aside a finished datapad and had just gotten up to stretch when he heard a scream that sounded all too familiar.

Running out of his office, Ultra Magnus made it to the medbay and turned on the lights, seeing Eclipse kicking and waving her paws in the air, her claws nearly shredding the blanket as her cries grew louder.

The large mech went over to her. "Eclipse," he called softly, gently shaking her shoulder. "Wake up, little one. It's only a bad dream."

The small femme jumped up, her eyes wide and wildly looking around as her tail puffed out in fear. She whimpered and hunkered down, not seeing Ultra Magnus right away as he began stroking her back. "Easy, little one. It was just a bad dream. You're okay," he said softly.

Tears fell down from Eclipse's eyes as she looked to see the leader of the Wreckers beside her and he was trying to comfort her. She stopped whimpering, but was still upset and looking ready to burst into more tears. As he continued rubbing her back, Ultra Magnus remembered how Ratchet said that Eclipse liked belly rubs. "Eclipse," he said quietly, getting her attention. "Would you like me to rub your belly, little one?"

That seemed to catch her attention and she looked up at him with hopeful eyes now. "Cuddle?" She asked softly.

He nodded and was relieved when she immediately jumped into his arms, cuddling in his arms and purring as he began rubbing her belly, making him smile as he rubbed her belly for a bit before stopping.

Eclipse suddenly growled at him, giving him what she deemed as her scary face, but it was actually too cute to be scary and made him smile. "What?" He asked, curious.

"More belly rubs," she said, trying to sound commanding, but it came out too cutely to be serious.

Chuckling, Ultra Magnus began rubbing her belly once again and she began purring happily, which made him chuckle before he got another idea and stopped rubbing her belly.

She again growled playfully, but before she could demand more, ten fingers wiggled playfully into her belly, making her giggle before her giggles turned to laughter as Ultra Magnus tickled her, making her squirm and squeak cutely.

Finally, she caught one of his hands in her paws and used her tail to catch his other hand and he chuckled in amusement. "Alright, how about one more belly rub to help you fall asleep again?" He offered.

She nodded and snuggled into his arms and purred again as he rubbed her belly, smiling as she was finally calmed down and looking very sleepy now. The leader of the Wreckers chuckled in amusement. "I might be stern, but even I have a soft spark when it comes to sparklings," he said. "Especially cute ones like you, Eclipse."

The small femme giggled softly before yawning and blinking her eyes sleepily. "Love you, Uncle Magnus," she said softly.

That told him that she forgave him for earlier. "I love you too, my little niece," he said quietly and saw her fall asleep in his arms. Setting her back down on the berth, he covered her with her blanket, stroking her head a final time before quietly leaving the med bay, sending a message to Ratchet that Eclipse was doing better and receiving a thank you message in response.

Now that Eclipse was doing better, Ultra Magnus went to his quarters and crashed onto his berth, no longer burdened with the feeling of Eclipse fearing him.

After all, under that stern demeanor, he did have a soft spark, especially when it came to sparklings like his niece.

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 **Please leave a review, but no flames!**

 **GoldGuardian2418**


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